Shawna at Rosemary Mint offered the following words for her Monday Melting: tremble, prickly, lurch, asparagus, blackout, copper, scaly, smudge, skewer, sift, membrane, slaughter. She also linked to some of Margaret Atwood’s Poetry. Girl without Hands, especially the last stanza, inspired this piece.
TOUCH
“…you can’t hold it,
you can’t hold any of it.”
Margaret Atwood from Girl Without Hands
No Margaret,
I shall stay away from your
girl.
If I am to be touched by
one that knows me —
knows what has happened —
then I want to feel it.
I want the prickly, trembling
feel
meat must experience
as it is skewered and set
on the flames.
There must be feeling to
accompany the touch,
else simply sift me
through the membrane of
existence,
toss me out with the chaff
as was desired of Peter;
assign me to polish
the smudges from the
scaly copper skin of the
Dragon of Judgement.
Allow me to feel the
touch
of the one that knows,
connection and meaning.
denial of contact would
be torturous —
rather, blackout my vision
and leave me to lurch blind
with the ignorant
herds, blissful to the
slaughter.
Awakened Words 
I love this and would have never in a million years considered the comparison: “I want the prickly, trembling feel dead meat must experience as we skewer it”
But this is my favorite: “I shall stay away from your girl. If I am to be touched by one that knows me, knows what has happened, then I want to feel it.”
I like the eyeballs being gouged out as well. Really nice surprise for me at the end. 😉
Thought there might be a couple of images in there that would appeal to you. 😉
You rock my sadistic mind.
This is GOOD, Mark, dark but in a deep thought provoking way! I liked this part a lot…”else simply sift me
through the membrane of
existence,”
Nice!!
Brilliant use of words and very metaphoric. I enjoyed this.
http://leah-jamielynn.typepad.com/blog/2012/04/its-true.html
Whew. Intense, Mark. Intense. 😉 LOVE that first sentence!
That ending is dramatic, and jolting.
coal (fireblossom)
You are growing your poetic self in leaps and bounds, aren’t you? This is quite something. As disturbing as it is, this is my favourite of your poems that I have read.
Thank you. Trying to grow, the last couple of weeks have felt kinda blah, a little forced. This did feel good.
Try three years! Just push on through, or completely ignore, poetic self. You have been quiet. Hope the blah-ness leaves soon.
Need me to make you another list of words? 🙂
Could not hurt, been pretty uninspired by most of PAD prompts. Oh well, still getting in a least one a day.
What kind of mood/tone? Sweet, dark, funny, light, heavy?
Dont they all pretty much turn dark anyway? 😛
LOL … If I have my way, they do. 🙂
You gonna write tonight?
sadly no, ‘Perspective’ was it for today. Off to bed, early day tomorrow. This whole job thing is really getting annoying.
I hear ya. I should save you my pennies so that you won’t have to work.
My daughter was complaining yesterday about me having to work in the summer. She said “well, just finish your book and then you can have summers free.’ If only, but talk about heart melting.
Awww, that’s sweet. 🙂 How is your book coming along?
Slow, been sidetracked with poetry and ‘life’. About to get back to it though.
Signing off — happy poeming!
strong images in this..esp. liked the..the membrane of
existence…the tossing out with the chaff and the scaly copper skin of the Dragon of Judgement…
want the prickly, trembling
feel
dead meat must experience
as we skewer it and set it
on the flames
dang i just love that bit there….leave me as an ignorant lamb before the slaughter is a great end as well mark
Powerful stuff Mark- quite a combination of words to weave together, yet you’ve constructed something that speaks about friaility, lack of confidence, or maybe something darker, not wanting to be touched in case it awakens something…dark and raw…the imagery defo played to my dark side..(stu mcp)
Must be something in the air about asparagus today. This poem had a dark yet somewhat seductive undercurrent to it.
really nice assembly of the prompted words. Very cool read. Thanks
Some heavy stuff and great lines in this one, Mark. Like over-cooked steak (you started it!); a little tough, but still steak. In other words, darn good writing!
Yikes… the thought of meat still sensing being skewered…shudders. Some fabulous imagery all through this Mark.
So often, others want to “take care” of things for us. I feel your poem because I too want to touch, to deal with my own life events. Love the phrase Dragon of Judgement and the skewered meat next to the asparagus. Yes, I do feel this poem.
So many strong images here, Mark. This is very striking. For me, “there must be feeling to accompany touch” occupies the heart of this poem. Thanks for a great piece!
Very dark, but very powerful…I like it!
Potent images, it didn’t feel like an assembled piece from prompt words, nicely done.
Intense and engaging imagery. Spoke to me of alienation and a desire for belonging.
The sensation of taste and texture of that which is cooked (unusual in poetry) seems to be a thread in several poems today. This poem rifles through disturbing images but ultimately is a poem about the divine connection with life and event to be experienced regardless of joy or horrors. The experience is value enough. Interesting and very thought provoking piece.
Cool poem. Echoing some comments above, I really enjoy the tone and imagery of these lines:
“I want the prickly, trembling
feel
dead meat must experience
as we skewer it and set it
on the flames next
to the asparagus”
This very powerful, viscerally tying together so many dimensions of what seems more than sadomasochistic pleasure/replusion. There’s a desire for transcendence that orarches many of the images of cruelty, I think, pulling it together, as you say, into meaning.
Amazing! Love the prosaic asparagus next to the flame followed by the poetic membrane of existence. The emotion grows to the point of blackout–excellently crafted.
Excellent poem for carnivores! I am very impressed with how you used the words!
ooh, very creepily wonderful… I don’t know if you’ve read Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, but this piece took me right back to that book.
haunting imagery, great piece!